I have not done food reviews for a while but this satay chicken rice deserves a mention. My first experience with this dish was rather meh but I decided to give it another shot. The second order certainly did not disappoint. I was blown away by the rich savoury satay sauce with crushed peanuts and rings of fresh onion. The umami sauce was right on point, which blanketed the otherwise rather mediocre mound of fried rice. Hidden beneath the sauce was a thick slab of nicely grilled chicken chop and a sunny side up egg. It was a very hearty portion enough for two pax. The picture does not do it justice so go try it for yourself and be wowed by a party on your palate!

I am not usually a fan of sweets. But whenever I crave a sugary treat, my go to place is Swensens. Most might not be aware but Swensens serves the most decadent truffle oil chocolate ice cream IMHO. The truffle oil chocolate ice cream is not sweet at all, which suits me just fine cos I don’t have a sweet tooth to begin with. But the truffle oil flavour is right on point which makes it so delightful. As I am not a fan of other ice cream flavours and whipped cream and toppings unless it is of my own choosing, I am glad Swensens offers an option of Build Your Own Sundae. I always choose 2 scoops of said flavour, sliced fresh strawberries and bananas as well as diced almonds. My B.Y.O.Sundae is served in a simple yet elegant plating. Till my next visit..

I had throughly enjoyed the fried chicken from Ahtti Korean so decided to try more of their non-chicken dishes. I settled for seafood pancake and soy bean paste soup with seafood. Big mistake. Huge. For starters, the soy bean paste soup was a dark murky unappetising shade of brown. No doubt it was chock full of shredded carrots and leeks; white tofu, clams, mussels and did I spy some tiny bits of webfoot octopus. But the soup itself was terribly salty to the point that it would be nearly impossible to finish it. The soup came in a set with two types of kimchi, pickles and brown rice. The latter was a strange addition as it just did not seem to belong in a Korean meal. Also if I wanted to eat healthy I would order from a salad shop haha. White rice would seem to be the natural choice here. The seafood pancake was equally lacklustre. I was filled with anticipation when I opened the box and saw small parcels of golden yellow deliciousness stacked in the box. And you could see bits of leek and carrot peeking out. Alas. Looks are deceptive. The pancake tasted extremely doughy and it just seemed like I was eating a whole load of pan fried parcels of flour with each mouthful. Not a pleasant thing and definitely not what I was expecting. The pancake was also terribly tasteless. All in all, it was a very underwhelming meal. I would definitely say stick to their chicken.

I had high hopes for King of Fried Rice after reading about them in the Sunday Times. How they are priced at half of Din Tai Fung’s original dish but still boasting similar taste and quality. So I did a takeaway on a Monday late afternoon to beat the dinner crowd. I ordered the Egg Fried Rice with Pork Cutlet which costs $7.20 (inclusive of $0.30 for takeaway). The takeaway order came with a tiny container of the XO sauce like chili (not pictured). When I opened the box at home, a nicely browned huge slab of pork cutlet was draped over the fried rice. Maybe it was the high expectations cos when I tucked into the fried rice, there was no fireworks. I recalled thinking this is it? I couldn’t detect any trace of wok hei. The fried rice itself tasted almost bland though it was fried very nicely and evenly with every rice grain covered in egg. The pork chop was very tender but tasted a tad salty. In fact the highlight of the entire dish for me was the chili. Man it packs a punch and a tonne of flavour. A flavour bomb alright. My throat has been acting weird lately but that didn’t stop me from mixing every bit of chili I could get out of the tiny container and mixing it all up with the fried rice. That did it for me and I polished off every single grain of an otherwise pretty meh fried rice.

I almost look forward to the encouraging note handwritten by the staff from Le Shrimp Ramen in my delivery order..😊 I ordered the Red Garoupa with Pickled Vegetables Hor Fun in Tonkotsu Broth this time. The garoupa chunks were very fresh with no fishy taste at all. Normally I would remove the fish skin but kudos to the chefs at Le Shrimp Ramen for cooking it so well that it was absolutely slurp-worthy. I was surprised that there were spicy undertones in the broth initially until I fished out some picked green chili heads. As with the robust shrimp broth, I finished every drop of the creamy and rich tonkotsu broth. Another perfectly executed dish from homegrown favourite Le Shrimp Ramen. What more could you ask for in your comfort food in these trying times. #SGUnited #SupportLocal #StayHomeForSG

Another encouraging note handwritten by the staff of Le Shrimp Ramen for my delivery order ❤️ I ordered the prawn dumpling thick vermicelli in shrimp broth and chilled silken tofu with century egg as an appetiser. I throughly enjoyed the slippery thick vermicelli that paired so well with the slightly oily and robust shrimp broth. The four accompanying prawn dumplings were also perfectly executed with its plump and crunchy prawn filling. The prawn dumplings were almost too pretty to be eaten. I was never a fan of century eggs for its strong ammonia taste but the halved century egg with the silken tofu was surprisingly palatable. With its warm and personable service and consistent excellent food quality, Le Shrimp Ramen certainly excels on all fronts. There is nothing more we can expect from a F&B establishment in such trying times 😊 #SGUnited #SupportLocal #StayHomeForSG

I have been ordering in Korean stews and fried chicken; and burgers and fries of late so decided to go back to familiar favourite Le Shrimp Ramen. Food wise, no complaints as usual. But what really made my day and touched me was the encouraging poetic note handwritten by the restaurant. The delivery rider was also very prompt, polite and professional in the contactless delivery process. It’s acts of kindness in times like these that really make a difference 💪🏻💪🏻 加油 SG! #SGUnited #SupportLocal #StayHomeForSG

Not sure if Chateraise would be operational during the one month shutdown so decided to drop by to satisfy some dessert cravings. I got the Crispy Chocolate Cake, Legendary Fresh Cream Cake, grape jelly and some ice-cream. I decided on the Legendary Fresh Cream Cake as the strawberry milk cake was not available. Somehow the Crispy Chocolate Cake was not as satisfying this time round. Maybe cos the Legendary Fresh Cream Cake really lived up to its name as it was so light and fluffy and the juicy fresh strawberries added just the right amount of tartness. I think I will have no problem polishing off the whole 18cm cake by myself hahaha. I will be looking out for more strawberry based cakes at Chateraise. Oishi!

Impressed with the fried chicken repertoire at Ahtti Korean Chicken, I decided to try their newly added non-chicken dishes. I ordered the seafood soondubu and plain fried boneless chicken this time. The seafood soondubu was filled to the brim with mussels, clams, prawns, leeks, onions, zucchini, egg and egg tofu. I wished they had used plain tofu instead of egg tofu as it just didn’t taste as authentic with egg tofu which was obviously used to tweak to local tastebuds. I would also have appreciated if they had added kimchi to the soup or at least provided a side portion of it. Though it was very hearty as it also came with a portion of rice, the soondubu didn’t exactly satisfy due to the lack of kimchi, use of egg tofu and it was also rather salty. The plain fried chicken came with a ganjang dip and a spicy dip. I preferred the ganjang dip. Having tried all the flavours now, my go to fave would definitely be the Yangnyeom flavour. Now they just have to add other Korean staples like tteokbokki to their menu.

The Yangnyeom Boneless Chicken at Ahtti Korean Chicken thoroughly exceeded my expectations as it still retained its crispy coat despite being drenched in the sweet and spicy sauce. The generous chicken chunks were very juicy as usual. Out of the four flavours I have tried so far at Ahtti, Yangnyeom would be my go to flavour anytime.

After my rather pleasant encounter with the honey butter boneless chicken from Ahtti Korean Chicken, I decided to order the intriguingly named Chili Padi Boneless Chicken this time. Obviously created for local tastebuds, the glistening golden brown fried chicken was studded with a few thin slices of chili padi. This chili padi chicken did not taste as potent as its name suggested. This was probably due to the fact that the chicken was drenched in honey which helped to neutralise the heat from the chili padi.

I had a craving for Korean fried chicken and decided to order in Ahtti Korean Chicken, the new kid on the block located in Jurong. I opted for the Honey Butter Boneless Chicken (half chicken). I have never tried honey butter korean fried chicken before so didn’t quite know what to expect. My order came with nine pieces of fried chicken showered with honey butter powder seasoning. The chicken was not greasy at all though the crunchy batter was a little hard. The order also came with a big portion of pickled radish cubes which was a good idea as it helped to cut through the heatiness of the fried chicken.